We’ve warmed up the world’s oceans way more than scientists realized, new research suggests — and time to avoid disaster is running out

Hilary Brueck, provided by Published 11:35 am PDT, Wednesday, October 31, 2018 Getty/MKnighton/Abu Dhabi Ocean Racing The oceans absorb more than 90% of the extra heat energy that our fossil fuel emissions trap on the planet. A new report suggests that this has made seawater even warmer than we thought. That means we’ll have to work even harder to avoid a future of disastrous floods, extra strong hurricanes, and suffocated sea life. The oceans are the world’s thankless, built-in air purifiers. Over the past couple hundred years, as humans have burned coal, cleared forests, put gas-powered cars and trucks on the road, and run air conditioners and refrigerators, the oceans have been quietly gathering up most of the carbon emissions those activities spew into the air. They’ve also absorbed most of the excess heat that those gases have trapped on the planet. Previous estimates suggested that the world’s oceans have collectively taken in more than 90% of the excess heat energy that our carbon emissions have kept on Earth. But a new report published in the journal Nature on Wednesday suggests it’s worse than that. The research shows that scientists have been measuring the amount of heat in the oceans incorrectly, so the waters have actually absorbed far more heat than previously thought. “If we think the ocean is warming more than we thought, it means the Earth is warming more than we thought, and that means the Earth is more sensitive to our emissions,” lead study author Laure Resplandy, an assistant professor of geosciences at… [Read full story]